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Spike TV Video Game Awards

Commentary and observations from the first annual Spike TV Video Game Awards.

The first annual Spike TV Video Game Awards took place in Las Vegas on December 2. GameSpy's Sluggo and Psylancer were in the house to soak it all in. The pair discusses the show, what it means for the industry, and how it compared to the other gaming awards shows of 2003.

Psylancer: Spike TV did a wonderful job with the VGAs. It was a really tight production that was executed smoothly. Compared to the other awards shows I've been to this year, this was far and away the best. The VGAs were much bigger -- in terms of both production and attendance -- and more professional than the other shows. When you consider this was an inaugural effort, it makes it seem that much more impressive. The show illustrates how big our industry is becoming.

Now, there were some things I didn't like about the show. Some of the games that won awards were most undeserving. There are definitely better driving games than NASCAR Thunder. I find it depressing that I live in a world where Enter the Matrix wins any award (except, perhaps, for the best-selling piece of crap in '03). The voting process seemed more thought out than G4's Gphoria Awards, but some of the results were dubious. I'd really like to know exactly who makes up the voting committee, because I can't believe garbage like Enter the Matrix would win if intelligent and rational people that knew the market were voting.

Sluggo: From a nominees-and-winners standpoint, I totally agree. I'm sure anyone who actually won an award is happy, but it's going to be hard for anyone to take these awards seriously. First, it's an odd set of categories (to say the least), and then there are the winners themselves. Smackdown as "Best Fighting Game" vs. Soul Calibur II as "Most Addictive?" Halo as "Best PC Game" but Call of Duty as "Best 1st Person Action?" It just doesn't seem like it was thought out very well, and it's this kind of thing that's prevented any single award from achieving status as "the" award to win.

And yet I also agree that this was the best production of any video-game awards show I've seen so far. It was much, much bigger than the AIAS awards, Gphoria, or the Game Developers' Choice Awards, and from an entertainment perspective, it was a fun show. As long as you don't take the awards that seriously -- for instance, treat it like the MTV VMA's instead of the Oscars --- I'd recommend tuning in. We still need a prestigious industry award, but shows like the Spike TV VGA's illustrate how far the video-game industry has come in the past few years.

One thing that I thought was really cool was having real gamers in the audience. It was possible to buy tickets for the show in Vegas, and it was very cool to hear people cheering wildly for games like Vice City and Call of Duty. That's something that hasn't been possible at all the previous video-game award shows -- they've all been industry-people-only affairs-- and that's something I'd like to see continue as these shows get bigger and bigger.

Psylancer: The crowd was definitely cool, but was definitely more of a console crowd. You could hear the reactions during the "History of Gaming" clip that ran during the show. Games like Soul Calibur, Zelda, Pac-Man, and Tony Hawk got a much bigger reaction than Half-Life or Warcraft. It's not really a good or a bad thing, just on observation. I suppose Spike TV wanted to cater to a younger demographic and get a slice of the console-advertising pie (which is considerably larger than the PC-advertising casserole).

I agree with you that it was the most entertaining award show by far. The performances were cool. I could watch Kelis sing "Milkshake" for days. I could watch Trish Stratus parade around in her bra for weeks. As far as being the VMAs of the gaming business, Spike TV has got it down and will only continue to refine the show. Perhaps G4 should try to make Gphoria the prestigious awards show. It tried to do a VMA-like thing this year, but compared to Spike TV's effort, it was a modest get-together as opposed to Spike's monster bash.

A look at the VGA's slick stage.

Sluggo: I'm cool if the Spike VGA's become the equivalent of the VMA's, but it's still frustrating to me that we don't have a major industry award worth caring about. To the people managing the AIAS awards, Gphoria and any other shows we might not know about, please, start now: talk to editors, get lots of feedback on categories and nominees, and don't require companies to sponsor your awards to be eligible. Tell the gamers what these awards represent and how the nominees were chosen -- don't have them shaking their heads wondering why one game or another is missing, or how winners could appear to be in conflict with each other. I want the razzle-dazzle, and I want to see people onstage performing songs from Madden 2007 -- but I also want a large stage for the industry to reward artistic achievements, and we're just not there yet.

On the other hand, they had good champagne in Vegas. I'd probably be a lot cheerier if the pounding in my head would stop.

Psylancer: Oh man. The wine and champagne. I'm trying not to remember the events of the after party. Yup. Never happened. Wasn't me. Nope, nope, nope.